stalactite

From New Latin stalactites, from Ancient Greek σταλακτός (stalaktós, “dripping; dropping”) + Latin -ītēs (suffix with the sense ‘belonging to’ forming adjectives) (modelled after the names of stones ending in -ites). Σταλακτός (Stalaktós) is derived from σταλάσσειν (stalássein, “to drip; to let (something) drip”) + -τός (-tós, suffix forming adjectives denoting possibility from verbs).^[1][2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstælæktaɪt/, /-lək-/, /stəˈlæktaɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /stəˈlækˌtaɪt/, /ˈstæləkˌtaɪt/
• Hyphenation: sta‧lac‧tite

stalactite (plural stalactites)

1. (geology) A secondary mineral deposit of calcium carbonate or another mineral, in shapes similar to icicles, that hangs from the roof of a cave.

   Coordinate term: stalagmite

   • 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXIII, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC:

     In one place, near at hand, a stalagmite had been slowly growing up from the ground for ages, builded by the water-drip from a stalactite overhead.

   • 2014 October 31, David W. Lloyd, “Deep in Vietnam, Exploring a Colossal Cave”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     There is the Hang Ken cave with its waterfalls spilling into large lagoons, shimmering goldlike mineral deposits and soaring columns created over thousands of years when stalactites hanging from the cave roof met stalagmite formations building from the cave floor.

• snottite
• stalactical
• stalactic

• calthemite
• speleothem

• stalactite on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from New Latin stalactites, from Ancient Greek σταλακτός (stalaktós).

• IPA^(key): /sta.lak.tit/

• Audio:

  (file)

stalactite f (plural stalactites)

1. (geology) stalactite

   Antonym: stalagmite

2. icicle

• “stalactite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.